What does it say about an industry that the federal government has to lecture it on the proper method of rounding off dollar amounts in its price advertising?
If you can't imagine a major industry where this happens, we'll give you a hint: We're in it.
According to the Transportation Department (DOT), some Internet sites (it didn't say which ones) have responded to the new full-fare advertising rule by taking a fare or package price, adding in all the taxes and mandatory fees as required and then rounding down for advertising purposes. An example would be a trip with an all-in cost of $748.37 being advertised as $748.
Ever alert to the slightest deviation from its proscribed methods of posting fares, the DOT recently issued an industry letter advising that it regards such rounding as "inherently deceptive," one of its favorite phrases.
If you must round, the DOT said, round up, not down. That way, presumably, the traveler will get a pleasant surprise when the final tab is presented, rather than an unpleasant one.
We have heaped our share of scorn on the DOT for the way that it tries to micromanage travel advertising, but every once in a while some companies in this industry seem to do their best to bring out the worst in the DOT.
This appears to be one of those times.
Memo to Whoever It Was Who Rounded Down in Order to Shave a Few Cents Off an Advertised Price: Did you really think that this DOT, which just published hundreds of pages of regulations and interpretations on the proper method of posting fares and listing taxes, was going to let you get away with that?